uber humper:mongbiohazard: I blame all the lobbyists, CEO's and other assorted silver spoon types who congregate here like hair in the drain.

I blame welfare.

Considering all the taxpayer wealth constantly being funnelled to the people I mentioned hand over fist, then I guess you blame the same people I do.

And I notice the thinly veiled undercurrent of racism in your posts. You should also note that the kiosks were set up in downtown business areas more packed with white people, not the areas where black people in DC live. DC is a diverse city, but the demographics change quite a bit depending on where you are and folks tend to self-segregate (though IMHO less so then in some other cities). Down among the capitol buildings and the mall isn't the same as SE and NE. Most likely the location was filled with lobbyists, executives, etc.... Probably a fair amount of tourists too.

What is a government employee in your mind? I can assure you that I am more accountable at my government job than I ever have been in the private sector:

-I hold two professional certifications that can be suspended/revoked due to bad behavior that occurs on or off the job.

-If I fail to do my job, firing is the least of my worry. I am sworn to do my job, which takes the consequences of negligence up a notch. It also means that someone has most likely died or been seriously injured through fault on my part. Both criminal and civil charges are easily imaginable should I fail to do my job.

-I was suspended without pay due to an arrest. It was a misuderstanding and the charges were dropped in less than two weeks. The charges were minor and had no bearing on my job, but I was suspended until a satisfactory disposition would be reached. In the private sector my employer would never have known about the arrest, let alone done anything about it. In my government job I informed my boss of the arrest myself, knowing that he would have to suspend me. Not informing him would have been grounds for disciplinary action.

IBelieveYouHaveMyStapler:I like experiments done that either tip toe or completely ignore what you want to measure. Instead of getting important information like race, age and gender, lets get how long their hair was and what kind of watch they were wearing. Because the other data could be seen as racists, sexists or ageist. Finding out that your product was the most popular with Blonde haired people wearing a Timex is useless. Also was the experiment trying to determine theft levels, whether people liked the drink, or what it should be priced at? If the donation was at 75 cents the results would be different rather than where the kiosk was located.

Were you expecting a serious sociology experiment? This is to sociology as Cracked is to Internet journalism. It's just supposed to be fun and get people talking. Enjoy it for what it is.

IBelieveYouHaveMyStapler:I like experiments done that either tip toe or completely ignore what you want to measure. Instead of getting important information like race, age and gender, lets get how long their hair was and what kind of watch they were wearing. Because the other data could be seen as racists, sexists or ageist. Finding out that your product was the most popular with Blonde haired people wearing a Timex is useless. Also was the experiment trying to determine theft levels, whether people liked the drink, or what it should be priced at? If the donation was at 75 cents the results would be different rather than where the kiosk was located.

I doubt it was an experiment at all; it sounds far more like a marketing stunt.

I would be semi-honest in this situation. $1 is quite a lot for tea. I can make a gallon of it for pennies. There is some convenience to the kiosk thing. For that I might pay an extra 10 cents. Therefore I would pay maybe one out of five times. Thereby adjusting the price to something that is not fark me in the ass level of overpriced.